March 31st, 2010: Obama met with Colleen Kelley, union boss for the IRS. According to the Inspector-General's report, this was one day before the targetting began. She was then appointed to the Federal Salary Council after which raises were then issued.

Further, an early timeline of events compiled by the inspector general
and obtained by CNN indicates the agency's practice of singling out
conservative groups began as early as March 2010, and in July of that
year, unidentified managers within the agency "requested its specialists
to be on the lookout for tea party applications." In August,
specialists were warned to be on the lookout for "various local
organizations in the tea party movement" applying for tax-exempt status.
The specific criteria would change several times over the next two
years, according to a portion of the report.

May 2013: Steven Miller, the former head of the IRS, called the targetting and questioning of conservative groups by agents "foolish mistakes" at a congressional hearing.

June 4th, 2013: testimony given by groups specifically targetted by the IRS was given scant coverage. It was called "political theatre" by Congressman Jim McDermott. The testimony of six witnesses in particular was criticised by him.